14 Senators join as co-sponsors of new measure
May 6, 2009
Sen. James Inhofe introduced the first official English bill in this session of the Senate today, adding to the nationwide push to unite all Americans under the common language of English. Joining Sen. Inhofe in the introduction of the National Language Act of 2009 were Senators Alexander, Isakson, Chambliss, Burr, Shelby, Vitter, Bunning, Coburn, Wicker, DeMint, Enzi, Thune, Corker and Cochran.

S. 992 contains similar provisions to those passed by the Senate twice in the last three years, making English the national language and clarifying government policy on the provision of multilingual documents. Like the prior Senate measures, the bill declares that there is no affirmative right to receive government services in languages other than English, except where required by federal law. When brought up for a vote in 2006 and 2007, the amendments to Senate immigration bills passed by margins of 62-35 and 64-33, respectively.

“The Congressional debates of 2006 and 2007 demonstrated that while there is much to be worked out on the subject of immigration, the majority of Senators strongly support the idea of assimilation by promoting English as our national language,” said Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of the Board of U.S. English, Inc. “From coast to coast, there is a momentum to recognize English as the unifying bond of all Americans and I look forward to working with Sen. Inhofe and his colleagues on this important bill.”

Sen. Inhofe’s bill was introduced the same day as the Oklahoma House approved legislation to make English the official language of the state. That measure, already passed by the Oklahoma Senate, will be on the general election ballot in Nov. 2010. According to a recent SoonerPoll.com survey, 86 percent of Oklahomans support official English legislation. Similar polls on the national level have found that more than four-fifths of Americans support making English the official language of the United States.

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.

I was stunned when I watched it get voted down on C-span a few years back. I thought then that English was our official language. I guess I could handle learning Puerto Rican. I know, you people think they speak Spanish, but you're wrong. When two PRs get together, one speaks Spanish and the other replies in English. I love it.

"I have always been a soldier. I have known no other life. The calling of arms, I have followed from boyhood. I have never sought another." From The Virtues of War, by Steven Pressfield.

the freedom to speak in whatever language you like as well as say what you wish as long as no one is materially hurt by this. the famous case about the guy who shouted fire in a crowded theatre, when there was no fire and people were hurt trying to run out of the building, come to mind here. ryo wonder if you could get into trouble running into a fire station and shouting movie! most likely they would just think you're a nut case and relatively harmless neh. many people are baka (word mean: idiot, stupid or foolish) and prejudice for no apparent reason neh. ryo also think that it is major handicap to live in America and not be able to speak or understand English at all, but even so, ryo fail to understand how this could cause material harm to another person.

It's all about an "official language". We can't very well pay for all of the people who speak different languages to be educated in those languages. How about road signs? If you ran across an ALTO sign and you only spoke a slavic language what would you do. How about a simple menu. Don't laugh, if you didn't have their language menu they would sue you and probably win. Those are but a few examples of why we need to officially decide what our Nations language is.

ryo is not oppose to English as the official language of the US. and no, ryo is not laughing either because people sue each other and states and governments over a lot more silly stuff than this neh. and what you say does make sense. it just that even if there is an official language how can their be a requirement that only this language can be spoken ka wouldn't that put a lot of linguistic and foreign language teacher out of business, which would materially harm them and so they could sue and win in court over this. it would be a constitutional challenge that such a law could not pass constitutional muster if such a requirement were to be included neh. please remember that ryo is not lawyer and so is supposing only here.

There is nothing in the Constitution that I am aware of that sez English is the official language. That's why we have the issue now. No one would require you to speak English. It's not like they would suddenly have the Language cops out arresting people whom mutter or if I suddenly started speaking German when I translated road signs for myself. Look, if we scribble in the dirt and the rest of the tribe didn't understand, would we let them starve because they didn't go on the hunt. We could debate the issue all day long to the benefit of none. So, I will end my part of the thread.

ryo not really see where the debate is either. ryo is perfectly fine with the idea of English as the official language. not see how anyone is materially harm by this. and it seem we agree, that there of course could not be a requirement that English would be the only language. so, yes it seem like this is a good place to end.